Gold eased on Monday as investors took profits, but the metal stayed near a six-month high after last week's disappointing US payrolls data boosted hopes that the Federal Reserve could unveil new stimulus as early as Thursday. Palladium rose nearly 3 percent on better demand expectation after encouraging Chinese vehicle sales data.
Spot gold was down 0.4 percent at $1,728.97 an ounce by 2:42 p.m. EDT (1842 GMT), having risen 2.7 percent last week, racking up a third consecutive weekly increase and its longest stretch of weekly gains since the start of the year. Despite bullion's sharp rally, its relative strength index (RSI) was slightly overbought at 78 on Monday after rising above 80 in the previous session.
US gold futures for December delivery settled down $8.70 at $1,731.80 an ounce with trading volume set to finish about 45 percent below its 250-day average, preliminary Reuters data showed. Palladium, which is used in catalytic converters for gasoline-powered engines, rose 2.7 percent on the day to $666.50 an ounce to hold around its highest since early May, helped by a 8 percent jump in Chinese car sales figures for August.
Comments
Comments are closed.